


Hired Help

by jakalboy



Series: Drajon AU [1]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Fantasy setting, Gen, everyone has ulterior motives, jon is a dragon au, jon is pretty much a super smart cat, tim is paranoid and shifty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-06 07:33:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21222896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jakalboy/pseuds/jakalboy
Summary: Sasha James, Tim... Staffer... And Martin Blackwood are hired to protect a library. They are not told about the dragon.





	Hired Help

**Author's Note:**

> YO drajon au is going UUUUUUUUUUP thank you to @watchersclown on tumblr for letting me rant about this and helping me brainstorm!! Ur a fuckin king kennedy

Sasha threw open the thick oaken door and strolled into the Archive foyer like she was hired already. Her confident footsteps and relaxed shoulders would have sold the story if it weren’t for the multiple weapons strapped to her back. She didn’t bother to sit in the chair across from the man sitting at the desk, the main feature of the room. He raised an eyebrow at her and looked her up and down.

“How good are you with that sword?” He asked. His voice was a dry, unimpressed drawl, but the curious gleam in his eyes betrayed him.

* * *

  
  


“You understand what sort of job you’re attempting to take, Mr. Blackwood?” The man asked. He shuffled his papers, not even bothering to look up.

Martin swallowed. “A… a guard job, right? I have to guard the library.”

The man rolled his eyes behind his paperwork. “It’s a bit more than  _ that. _ This is, ideally, a lifetime position, Mr. Blackwood. It’s-”

_ Perfect. _

* * *

  
  


“-quite the commitment, Mr.…” 

“Staffer,” said Timothy Stoker. “Tim Staffer.”

“Of course.” 

Tim got the distinct feeling that the man knew he was lying, but as long as neither of them acknowledged it, it was fine. He’d get the job. And if he didn’t get the job, then, well. He could pick locks like the best of them, and this interview could double as intel gathering. He’d be getting into this magic library one way or another.

“You’ll have to demonstrate your combat capabilities,” the interviewer continued. “Otherwise, you seem like you’d be fit for the position.”

* * *

  
  


Martin bustled away into a corner to catch his breath. He straightened the scabbard of the saber he didn’t even really know how to use to hide the shaking of his hands. He couldn’t believe he’d gotten  _ hired. _ His coworkers looked… capable. Sasha wore full plate armor like she was born in it and had an unbelievable collection of swords, and Tim was apparently so good at breaking locks that he did it for  _ fun. _ And his physique, while no match for Sasha’s, was no joke.

Martin looked at his arms. They were just Martin arms. And ridiculous Martin hands that could hoe and scythe and milk a cow like nobody’s business, but were nowhere near cut out for the frankly absurd combat level this job seemed to require. 

It was just a library. Who needed a knight to protect a library, anyway?

He pulled out one of the uncomfortable looking chairs so he could stew in his insecurity properly and get it over with. But as he lowered himself into it, something sharp poked his rear and  _ hissed. _

Martin’s yelp carried across the room, bringing the attention of all three guards to the small dragon sitting in the chair.

The thing was maybe about the size of a large housecat, and just as graceful, judging from its leap onto the table. Its scales looked almost a dark brown, but in the light of the sunstones embedded into the shelves, they gleamed a deep, lustrous red. It was a spiky creature, with long black spines starting at its head and traveling down its back to the bottom of its barbed tail. Its six eyes blinked in rippling succession, and its wings were tucked elegantly into its side. Something glinted around its neck.

The ring of metal startled Martin out of his stupor. The small dragon looked utterly unimpressed at the broadsword Sasha brandished at it from across the room.

“Martin,” Sasha said with a low voice. “I think that’s a dragon hatchling.”

Its tail twitched in a fashion that reminded Martin of the barn cat when he was about to pet it just once too much. “H-hatchling? Is that… that’s good?”

“That’s  _ bad, _ Martin. If it’s this small, it must be young, which means it’s parents must be nearby.” She spoke in a low, quick voice, laced with panic. Tim edged towards the exit doors. “Stay very,  _ very _ still.”

But Martin couldn’t help but lean in. “It’s got something around its neck.” The dragon turned its head towards Martin, and after a moment, tilted it back. Sasha started forward when Martin reached out, but the dragon placidly let him take hold of the golden amulet. He squinted and leaned closer. “It… it says  _ Jon. _ ” He frowned. “Isn’t Jon the archivist?”

The dragon closed its eyes and looked away, puffing its chest slightly.

Tim abruptly changed courses, marching towards the dragon. “No way,” he said, in a way that indicated disbelief had trumped caution.  _ “This thing _ owns the library? A dragon is our  _ boss?” _

The dragon- Jon- snorted at Tim as if to say, _well, of course._ _Who else?_

Sasha lowered her sword slightly. “If the dragon is Jon… were we hired to protect a tiny dragon’s hoard?”

Tim grabbed the amulet to look for himself, and turned it over a few times. “I… guess so. We’re protecting the hoard of a damn dragon.” He laughed, a nice, full-bellied laugh, sharply cut off when the dragon suddenly nipped at his fingers and leapt off the table, tail lashing.

Martin covered up a giggle as Tim cradled his undamaged fingers. “I think you offended him.”

“Offended? Look at it, it’s someone’s pet. Probably that huffy man who hired us,” Tim said. “We’re glorified cat sitters! ...Cat sitters who get free reign of an entire  _ library. _ This- this is the  _ ideal _ job.” Tim grinned at Martin and Sasha both. “Working for some rich man who got in over his head, getting paid like kings, and we get to sit around all day, and read  _ books. _ Books! As in lots of expensive, rare books!” He threw his hands up.

Martin hadn’t thought Tim to be the type think all that highly of reading, but when he put it that way… well, there was no harm in it, right? He did need to learn how to read beyond the basics. The life of a scholar was always an appealing one.

Sasha sheathed her sword, looking after the dragon as it stalked deeper into the library. “Don’t you think it’s strange, though?”

“Of course,” Tim said. 

“I mean, did the man even give a full name?” Sasha continued. “All he said was ‘Sim’. What kind of name is that? And I thought there would have been more, older guards.”

Actually, now that she mentioned it, that was strange. “Maybe they all quit?” Martin said weakly.

Sasha tilted her head. “Maybe,” she said pensively. “I doubt it though.”


End file.
